How much of a museum do you really see when visiting its galleries? So much at an institution happens behind the scenes, whether conservators preserving objects for display, or researchers journeying into the field. Many museums have been using online videos to bring these stories to the public. Here are nine series to watch:

American Museum of Natural History: Shelf Life

Now in its second season, Shelf Life is a digital series that delves into the collections of the American Museum of Natural History. As only a fraction of its 33 million specimens are on view, and the museum actively supports research around the world, it’s a fascinating insight beyond the dinosaurs and taxidermy dioramas that most people associate with the institution. It also answers pressing questions like: how do you preserve a coelacanth?

“Tales From the Cryptic Species” examines how century-old specimens can now reveal genetic diversity that could influence conservation policy, “Into the Island of Bats” follows scientific studies on the bats of Cuba, and “Shamans of Siberia” chronicles how a 19th-century collection from one of the largest anthropology expeditions to the Pacific Northwest Coast of North America and Siberia is now a vital resource for indigenous living culture.

George Eastman Museum: Photographic Processes

The 12-part Photographic Processes from the George Eastman Museum is an in-depth overview of the development of photography, from daguerreotype, to cyanotype, to the rise of color photography. The videos involve photographs from the museum’s extensive collections, as well as demonstrations of the techniques. “We make photographs in a different way from the way we used to, but we make them for the same reasons,” independent photography curator Alison Nordström states in series. “I would argue that a 19th-century Victorian family album has exactly the same purpose as the 200 pictures of your kid that you carry on your phone.”

British Museum: Curator’s Corner

In Curator’s Corner,British Museum curators highlight some of their favorite objects, with a dose of humor. For instance, Thomas Hockenhull, the curator of modern money, has a go at defacing a penny like an early 20th-century suffragette with the words: “Votes for Women.” Often these videos capture the sense of wonder that drew curators to their fields, whether it’s curator of cuneiform Irving Finkel deciphering a board game rule tablet — the “world’s oldest rule book” — or curator of Japanese arts Nicole Rousmaniere celebrating the incredible art of Japanese manhole covers.

Metropolitan Museum of Art: MetCollects

The Metropolitan Museum of Art’sMetCollectsshowcases new acquisitions, and discusses why these objects are important to preserve. For example, David C. Driskell, professor emeritus at the University of Maryland, College Park and a scholar of African American art, puts Aaron Douglas’s 1930s painting “Let My People Go” in the context of the Harlem Renaissance and its visual reclamation of art history. Others have a more tactile perspective you couldn’t get from a gallery visit (unless you wanted to be kicked out), such as Daniëlle Kisluk-Grosheide opening a longcase clock by Ferdinand Berthoud and Balthazar Lieutaud to show its movement that tracks solar time, and a plaque commemorating when it was presented to the Paris Academy of Science in 1752. In one of the most recent videos, composer Anthony Wilson plays John Monteleone’s “Four Seasons” guitars, demonstrating how each has a distinct sound channeling the different seasons.

Smithsonian Institution: Explore with Smithsonian Experts

Explore with Smithsonian Experts is a series from the Smithsonian Institution aimed at students and teachers, yet anyone can learn something from its engaging videos, which are filmed at the Smithsonian’s various museums. The idea is to investigate new ways of seeing, researching, recording, and sharing.

One set at the National Portrait Gallery considers how portraits can be both fact and fiction, while another at the National Museum of African Art is about reading abstraction through the art of El Anatsui. And if you were wondering if leaf-cutter ants at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History are capable of carrying the Smithsonian logo, there’s a scientific method-themed video for that.